1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting device for vehicle used in an outer mirror for vehicle, particularly to a lighting device for vehicle preferably used in a door mirror device.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a lighting device for vehicle provided on a housing body which constitutes a part of a door mirror device as an outer mirror. In the lighting device, a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LED) as light emitting devices are provided on an outer end portion of the housing body in a width direction of a vehicle (vehicle width direction) and disposed with intervals in a horizontal direction. The lighting device for vehicle is used as a signal lamp to let following cars or the like to perceive right turn or left turn by simultaneously turning ON the plurality of light-emitting diodes (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-79885, for example).
Further, vehicle regulations provide that the plurality of light-emitting diodes should be recognized as one light source when they are turned ON.
Furthermore, it is known that there is also a lighting device for vehicle where a plurality of light-emitting diodes are provided in a row with intervals in a horizontal direction from the outer end portion toward the inner end portion of the housing body in the vehicle width direction. In the above lighting device for vehicle, a plurality of light-emitting diodes provided on the outer end portion in the vehicle width direction are used as signal lamps and light-emitting diodes provided on the inner end portion in the vehicle width direction are used as ornament lamps.
For the lighting device for vehicle as well, regulations provide that the plurality of light-emitting diodes arranged in a row should be recognized as one light source when they are turned ON.
Furthermore, as the lighting device for vehicle, a lighting device for vehicle configured such that an outer lens is provided for the housing body and the inside of the lighting device for vehicle is seen through the outer lens is also known.
Incidentally, in this type of the lighting device for vehicle where the inside is seen from outside, since the inside of the lighting device for vehicle is seen through the outer lens even when the light-emitting diodes are not turned ON, there is an inconvenience that a decorating characteristic reduces.
Thus, an idea that a reflector reflecting output light from the light-emitting diodes and leading to the outer lens is provided between the housing body and the outer lens and the reflector is allowed to function as a decorating wall.
However, in the regulations, when the plurality of light-emitting diodes are simultaneously turned ON, a positional relation between the light-emitting diode and the reflector is specified such that irradiated regions formed on the inside surface of the outer lens by the output light reflected by the reflector become adjacent to each other with intervals, each of which is set to a predetermined interval or less.
This is because, according to the legal standard of Europe, only a single lighting device is admitted to be mounted on the door mirror device, and if a plurality of light-emitting diodes are used as a light source in the lighting device, the adjacent irradiated regions should have intervals, each of which is a predetermined gap or less.
On the other hand, legal standard of a light distribution angle range for a side turn lamp is different by each area. For example, in European region, the angle range is from approximately 5 degrees to approximately 60 degrees in relation to a front-rear direction of a vehicle as a reference direction. On the contrary, in North American region, the angle range is set from approximately 30 degrees to approximately 70 degrees. This is because an angle formed by light beam on a rear end side of irradiated light which is irradiated outwardly from the lighting device and the vehicle front-rear direction is required to be an angle of a predetermined angle or less, that is, 5 degrees or less in Europe and 30 degrees or less in the U.S.
In the case of the lighting device for vehicle having the reflector which reflects output light from the light-emitting diodes and leads to the outer lens, if the reflector is allowed to function as the decorating wall, the shape of the reflector needs to be devised depending on each area because the legal standard is different depending on each area. For this reason, the lighting device for vehicle having the reflector has an inconvenience that the degree of freedom in design is poor and lacks flexibility in design.
Furthermore, in this type of lighting device for vehicle in which the inside is seen through the outer lens also has an inconvenience that a decorating characteristic reduces since the light-emitting diodes are seen from outside through the outer lens.